Issue 4 (6), 2016 REGION ORGANIZATION COOPERATION SUBSIDIARY EASTERN EUROPE TRANSFORMATION UNION IDENTITY UNITY ORGANIZATION IDENTITYBLACK SEA INTEGRATION EASTERN EUROPE REGION BSEC REGIONALISM IDENTITY BALTICS ENVIRONMENT VISEGRAD FOUR BSEC POLITICS INSTITUTIONS EUROPE UA: Ukraine Analytica · 4 (6), 2016 NORTH AMERICA • COOPERATION REGIONS AND POLITICS • REGIONAL SELF-IDENTIFICATION • VISEGRAD FOUR AND THE BLACK SEA 1 Issue 4 (6), 2016 BOARD OF ADVISERS Dr. Dimitar Bechev (Bulgaria, Director of the Regionalism European Policy Institute) Dr. Iulian Chifu Analysis and Early Warning Center) (Romania, Director of the Conflict Editors Dr. Igor Koval (Ukraine, Rector of Odessa National Dr. Hanna Shelest University by I.I. Mechnikov) Dr. Mykola Kapitonenko Dr. Sergey Minasyan (Armenia, Deputy Director at the Caucasus Institute) Publisher: Published by NGO “Promotion of Intercultural Stephan Meuser (Germany, Director of the Cooperation” (Ukraine), Centre of International Representation of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Romania) of the Representation of the Friedrich Studies (Ukraine), with the financial support Ebert Foundation in Ukraine, International James Nixey (United Kingdom, Head of the Russia Renaissance Foundation (Ukraine) and the and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House, the Black Sea Trust. Royal Institute of International Affairs) UA: Ukraine Analytica Dr. Róbert Ondrejcsák (Slovakia, State Secretary, analytical journal in English on International Ministry of Defence) is the first Ukrainian Relations, Politics and Economics. The journal is aimed for experts, diplomats, academics, H.E., Dr. Oleg Shamshur (Ukraine, Ambassador students interested in the international Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to relations and Ukraine in particular. France) Contacts: Dr. Stephan De Spiegeleire (The Netherlands, website: http://ukraine-analytica.org/ Director Defence Transformation at The Hague e-mail: [email protected] Center for Strategic Studies) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ ukraineanalytica Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze (Ukraine, Vice- Twitter: https://twitter.com/UA_Analytica Prime Minister on European and Euroatlantic Integration of Ukraine) The views and opinions expressed in articles are those of the authors and do not Dr. Dimitris Triantaphyllou (Greece, Director of the Center for International and European Studies, Analytica, its editors, Board of Advisors or Kadir Has University (Turkey)) necessarily reflect the position of UA: Ukraine donors. (Norway, Research Director at the ISSN 2518-7481 Dr. Asle Toje Norwegian Nobel Institute) UA: Ukraine Analytica · 4 (6), 2016 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS BSEC IS ESTABLISHING A DENSE NETWORK FOR DIALOGUE AND COOPERATION 3 Interview with the Secretary General of the BSEC PERMIS H.E. Ambassador Michael B. Christides THE EMPTY SHELL OF BLACK SEA REGIONALISM 5 Dimitrios Triantaphyllou EAST EUROPEAN REGIONAL IDENTITY: MYTH OR REALITY? 12 Olena Khylko RUSSIA’S PARTICIPATION IN EUROPEAN REGIONAL ORGANISATIONS AT THE PRESENT STAGE 21 Olena Snigyr NETWORKS AND NODES: EURASIAN REGIONALISM REVISITED 30 Viktor Konstantynov THE BALTIC STATES AND THE EASTERN PARTNERSHIP: A STRENGTHENING FACTOR FOR REGIONALISM? 38 Dovilė Šukytė THE IDEA OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION AND THE CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION OF UKRAINE WITH THE EU 44 Olga Brusylovska NORTH AMERICA CHALLENGES: NEW PROSPECTIVES FOR THE REGION? 51 Iryna Bochar 2 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 4 (6), 2016 EAST EUROPEAN REGIONAL IDENTITY: MYTH OR REALITY? Dr. Olena Khylko Associate Professor at the Institute of International Relations of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv The political and economic fragmentation of the EU, intensified by the migrant crisis, leads to the intensification of nationalism and regionalism. In this context, East European common historical heritage as well as current economic and security challenges encourage speculations that enhanced regionalization may bring additional resources to empower resilience capacity of the regional countries. Given that the European integration is a remote prospect, the ideas of subregional alliances are becoming popular among Ukrainian politicians and analysts, and the issue of the East European regional identity as a possible unifying factor arises. Analysing the origin and evolution of this perception and self-perception of Eastern Europe in the context of the regional identity, we come to a conclusion that it cannot become a crucial factor for subregion consolidation. This fact should be taken into account in Kyiv when shaping long-term foreign policy goals and developing relations with its neighbours and partners. Eastern Europe is one of the most vulnerable regions in the world, a shatterbelt consisting threat to the common European identity and of relatively small nations, which try to intensified by the migrant crisis poses a withstand the pressure of neighbouring regionalism. powers while being fragmented into leads to the intensification of nationalism and several areas with inconsistent positions Regarding this, it seems rational to analyse and unpredictable perspectives. Historical the issue of common regional identity, which heritage and common problems as well as could be considered as one of the most security challenges encourage a generation fundamental and interlocking substances for of ideas that enhanced regionalization. This the regionalization. Anticipating the reveal of may bring additional resources to empower the regional identity issue, two conceptual resilience capacity for the countries of issues should be stressed and indicated. The the region. The regional security complex regional identity will not be considered in theory by Barry Buzan and Ole Waever1 is terms of primordialists and perennialists, yet again actual today within the Russian- who study identity as a given, something crafted security environment. The political inherent and immanent that existed from the and economic fragmentation of the EU very origin. We will apply the constructivist 1 Barry Buzan, Ole Wæver (2003) Regions and Powers: The Structure of International Security, Cambridge University Press, 564 p. 12 UA: Ukraine Analytica · 4 (6), 2016 perspective of identity as a mental construct determinative factor for any collective identity that has been revealed in an intellectual and shaping should be the division into the Self political discourse of respective countries and the Other (alien, the one who differs from since the beginning of the 20th century. me). Identity can exist only in the “Self-Other” dichotomy and self-perception is realized via The approach to the East European regional identity has a dual nature. On the one hand, it is based on social constructivism and means that the East European regional identity is Historical heritage and a construct, an image, an idea that arouses common problems as well and is realized by the countries of the region, «as security challenges their political elites and academicians as well encourage a generation of ideas as other representatives of their intellectual that enhanced regionalization. sphere and aimed to perform a certain function. On the other hand, it is a result of some empirical experience that is a complex of different elements: common values and attitude to the Other. The markers of attribution interests shaped by common historical and of this or that subject to “Self” or “the Other” are cultural practices as well as their religious usually narrowed to the following similarities: heritage. locality, shared values, norms and traditions; articulated sense of belonging to this or that Herein, the boundaries of Eastern Europe will be referred to in the broad sense, with the group (region in our case) should be a including Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, sourcegroup thatof self-esteem is seen as and a single even pride;unit; affiliationcollective Hungary, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and historical memory with certain common myths and narratives, culture and religion; models set aside due to the unique Balkan identity of political and economic development. Such the Baltic states. The Southern flank will be markers in a very general form could be found Empire that should be a subject of separate in the Charter on European Identity (1995), analysis.significantly It should influenced be noted by thatthe upOttoman to the initiated by Vaclav Havel2. Based on these middle 19th century both terms – Eastern markers, a group experiences self-perception Europe and Central Europe – were rather via attitude to “the Other”. The same should obscure. The latter one was used for a long be said about the regional identity. “The time to denote the territory of the Holy identities of regions are constructed through Roman Empire, and only after the World War their relationships with other regions”.3 In this I, it became a term to describe the countries sense, the representatives of a region consider between Germany and Russia. themselves as one group opposing the other group. Any type of collective identity derives from psychological analyses and should answer Eastern Europe as an “Invented” several key questions: Who am I? Where am Mental Construct I from? Which group do I belong to or which East European regional identity has group do I affiliate myself with? The central 2 pdf] 3 JohnCharter Allen, of European Doreen Massey, Identity, Allan October Cochrane 28, 1995, (2002), [daten.schule.at/dl/Charta_europ_Identitaet_119142657213287. Rethinking the Region: Spaces of Neo-Liberalism, Routledge: New York, p.10. UA: Ukraine Analytica · 4